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Entry: Down the Memory Hole Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/down_the_memory_hole#29806 Post contents: As I said in a comment on the other column, it looks like Mr. Gottfried's assertions do not contradict Douthat's. Douthat has his own definition of conservative (hey, who doesn't?), which would almost tautologically include opposition to desegregation. Mr. Gottfried, on the other hand, is talking about "movement" or "self-styled" conservatives. Also, I don't really understand the paleo obsession with the neocon's use of the Martin Luther King myth. I believe you all that the neocon MLK has little resemblance to the true historical person, but so what? Co-opting your opponents' (i.e., the liberals') religious symbols looks to me like smart rhetoric, whether the neocons are doing it consciously or not. And the use to which the neocons want to put it seems unobjectionable as well: as far as I can tell, they mostly want to use their symbol against affirmative action and black special-pleading. That is, they're using it as a rhetorical weapon against the Left's (more accurate) MLK myth. That may not be enough for us, and we may not agree with the ultimate neocon ideal of a "color-blind society", but they're trying to move things in the right direction. So what's the big deal with their MLK myth? Sent at: 2008 12 02